Road trip pic spam
May. 21st, 2007 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catspawOr, What I Did On My Holidays *g* About ten photos under the cut, be warned!
Oh what fun we had! I can't remember when I enjoyed a trip as much and better yet, it was just the two of us :-)
First off though, we went on a bit of a nostalgia jag. We just happened to be passing the area we used to take the kids on holiday when they were very small - Haggerston Castle in Northumberland, for Brits on the flist - and we hadn't been there for oh, 15 years or so, so we just had to go have a little sniff about. It was bloody freezing, but nice and sunny off and on - and this is 'our' beach. With more people on it than I've ever seen there before LOL! It is a beautiful beach though and it runs for miles and miles. It's at a place called St. Aidan's Dunes.
After a quick run around - it was too bloody cold to linger! - we headed off to Leicester. It's odd, when we said we were going there, most people asked what on earth for. But it's a pleasant place, it really is :-) Not exactly a tourist hotspot, but a pretty city nevertheless. This is the town square, a really pleasant space in the middle of much busy-ness. The old looking black and white you can see in the background is mock - Leicester only has one surviving medieval building, the Guildhall. And it's not really that spectacular of a black and white - better ones to follow from Stratford ;-)
Only stayed one night there - there wasn't that much to do or see. We did find a spectacularly good curry house though with the best Peshawari naan ever! :-) And some lovely real ale :-))
Next day, a quick diversion to Stratford. Which as usual in anything approaching the tourist season was pretty much Pseud's Corner. Loads and loads of foreign students - one group eagerly and vocally discussing the plot of King Lear. Which would have been fine if any of them had had anything approaching *familiarity* with the plot of King Lear...
Ach well. It was as pretty as ever but it was depressing to realise that it was nearly 30 years since we were there last! Saw the Shakespeare house
but didn't go in since it was mobbed. And here's a pic of some very pretty wisteria, just because
And this, I just couldn't resist - this has to be the wonkiest house in Stratford LOL! Just look at the lines of the timbers in the back extension - you must just about need crampons to negotiate that floor!
Stratford was only just a wee side trip, because our ultimate destination was Glastonbury. Man, that is a really wierd place *g*. On the one hand it's full of ageing hippies who batter on about ley lines and crystals and wear floaty skirts with birkenstocks. (Only the women, obviously, with the skirts. Birkenstocks though seem to be universal *g*). The other part of the community seems to be new money, with their own gite in France and the biggest damn 4x4s on the market. There are even a few ageing hippies with huge 4x4s and a gite LOL. A couple of decent pubs though - the George and Pilgrims is a beautiful old building and quite adorable inside, all nooks and crannies and blackened roof beams (the geunuine article!) and if you're ever in Glastonbury and need a good feed, the Mitre is highly recommended. Home cooking and plenty of it and damn good salad accompaniments :-) The beer was good there too: one called Doom Bar is the one I took a particular fancy to :-)
We had two nights in Glastonbury, so one and a half days in the area. Took the chance to go back to Wells again - and for all those of you who were at Avalon, here's a pic of the Bishop's Palace with leaves on the trees *g*
I have to tell you though, six months later and it wasn't much drier and certainly no warmer :-( Then, what turned out to be the highlight of the trip - Cheddar Gorge. For all the times I've been down in that area, I've never been there and it totally blew me away. It is without doubt one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I tried to take photos, but none of them could do it any justice. We did have a yomp around the famous caves though. Again, the pictures didn't turn out that great (not bad for the little camera I've got, but not great). Gough's cave is the most extraordinary place - totally *stuffed* withdildoes stalagmites.
I like caves as a general rule, and this one can compete with anything I've seen in the Pyrenees. Just beautiful. We spent hours there and could have cheerfully spent longer.
But we didn't have the time: next day we were off again to Chester, which is a fair bit back oop north again from Glastonbury so we motorwayed it with no side trips. Man, what a place! Another place I'd never really have thought to go, mainly because York gets all the hype. But Chester can way compete! It's beautiful. There are a lot of medieval buildings there, a lot of them are pubs, a lot of them we had a pint in *g*, but also a lot of the 'medieval' buildings are mock. You can tell them apart because the modern ones aren't wonky *gg*. The town walls are still largely complete, Roman in the north part with medieval additions, purely medieval down to the Dee. The walk around them was a great way to orient ourselves and see most of the city centre. There are a couple of streets in the centre called the Rows that are pure medieval and something that I've never seen before. There are ground floor shops, then one storey up there's a long gallery built into the Row, with more shops. Then accommodation above those. And all in use and in beautiful nick. I can't help thinking that Chester must have been one of the pleasanter medieval towns to try and negotiate, seeing as you wouldn't necessarily have to wade through all the shit at street level to get around. This pic gives you a flavour of what the city is like:
That's a section of the town that's built within the area of the Roman fort, Deva. They're v. big on Romans in Chester ;-) There's a museum thingie there that's very hands on, and you can try on repro Roman armour. I did and man, it was *heavy* - but The Man took the photos and he had a fit of the shakes so they didn't turn out at all well :-( Still, my respect for legionaries went up a good few notches!
The walls are cool too, 'cos they're built upon. It's a very three dimensional city!
Pretty Georgian houses atop a medieval wall with Roman footings. I like that idea :-)
I could have stayed in Chester a lot longer and not been bored - in fact, we'l have to go again some time soon, I think - but the next day we had to head home. But I finally managed to persuade The Man (and it's only taken 30 years LOL) not to drive straight home like a bat out of hell but to take me to see Hadrian's Wall. And it was great! Probably not the best weather to see it in, although it was very atmospheric, and I could only persuade him to detour as far as Birdoswald and not Housesteads or Vindolanda, which I would have preferred but which really are in the ass end of nowhere - but still! Hadrian's Wall! At last!
And that was that. Last detour apart from the supermarket before we got home.
Congrats to anyone who's stayed the course this far *g*
Oh what fun we had! I can't remember when I enjoyed a trip as much and better yet, it was just the two of us :-)
First off though, we went on a bit of a nostalgia jag. We just happened to be passing the area we used to take the kids on holiday when they were very small - Haggerston Castle in Northumberland, for Brits on the flist - and we hadn't been there for oh, 15 years or so, so we just had to go have a little sniff about. It was bloody freezing, but nice and sunny off and on - and this is 'our' beach. With more people on it than I've ever seen there before LOL! It is a beautiful beach though and it runs for miles and miles. It's at a place called St. Aidan's Dunes.
After a quick run around - it was too bloody cold to linger! - we headed off to Leicester. It's odd, when we said we were going there, most people asked what on earth for. But it's a pleasant place, it really is :-) Not exactly a tourist hotspot, but a pretty city nevertheless. This is the town square, a really pleasant space in the middle of much busy-ness. The old looking black and white you can see in the background is mock - Leicester only has one surviving medieval building, the Guildhall. And it's not really that spectacular of a black and white - better ones to follow from Stratford ;-)
Only stayed one night there - there wasn't that much to do or see. We did find a spectacularly good curry house though with the best Peshawari naan ever! :-) And some lovely real ale :-))
Next day, a quick diversion to Stratford. Which as usual in anything approaching the tourist season was pretty much Pseud's Corner. Loads and loads of foreign students - one group eagerly and vocally discussing the plot of King Lear. Which would have been fine if any of them had had anything approaching *familiarity* with the plot of King Lear...
Ach well. It was as pretty as ever but it was depressing to realise that it was nearly 30 years since we were there last! Saw the Shakespeare house
but didn't go in since it was mobbed. And here's a pic of some very pretty wisteria, just because
And this, I just couldn't resist - this has to be the wonkiest house in Stratford LOL! Just look at the lines of the timbers in the back extension - you must just about need crampons to negotiate that floor!
Stratford was only just a wee side trip, because our ultimate destination was Glastonbury. Man, that is a really wierd place *g*. On the one hand it's full of ageing hippies who batter on about ley lines and crystals and wear floaty skirts with birkenstocks. (Only the women, obviously, with the skirts. Birkenstocks though seem to be universal *g*). The other part of the community seems to be new money, with their own gite in France and the biggest damn 4x4s on the market. There are even a few ageing hippies with huge 4x4s and a gite LOL. A couple of decent pubs though - the George and Pilgrims is a beautiful old building and quite adorable inside, all nooks and crannies and blackened roof beams (the geunuine article!) and if you're ever in Glastonbury and need a good feed, the Mitre is highly recommended. Home cooking and plenty of it and damn good salad accompaniments :-) The beer was good there too: one called Doom Bar is the one I took a particular fancy to :-)
We had two nights in Glastonbury, so one and a half days in the area. Took the chance to go back to Wells again - and for all those of you who were at Avalon, here's a pic of the Bishop's Palace with leaves on the trees *g*
I have to tell you though, six months later and it wasn't much drier and certainly no warmer :-( Then, what turned out to be the highlight of the trip - Cheddar Gorge. For all the times I've been down in that area, I've never been there and it totally blew me away. It is without doubt one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I tried to take photos, but none of them could do it any justice. We did have a yomp around the famous caves though. Again, the pictures didn't turn out that great (not bad for the little camera I've got, but not great). Gough's cave is the most extraordinary place - totally *stuffed* with
I like caves as a general rule, and this one can compete with anything I've seen in the Pyrenees. Just beautiful. We spent hours there and could have cheerfully spent longer.
But we didn't have the time: next day we were off again to Chester, which is a fair bit back oop north again from Glastonbury so we motorwayed it with no side trips. Man, what a place! Another place I'd never really have thought to go, mainly because York gets all the hype. But Chester can way compete! It's beautiful. There are a lot of medieval buildings there, a lot of them are pubs, a lot of them we had a pint in *g*, but also a lot of the 'medieval' buildings are mock. You can tell them apart because the modern ones aren't wonky *gg*. The town walls are still largely complete, Roman in the north part with medieval additions, purely medieval down to the Dee. The walk around them was a great way to orient ourselves and see most of the city centre. There are a couple of streets in the centre called the Rows that are pure medieval and something that I've never seen before. There are ground floor shops, then one storey up there's a long gallery built into the Row, with more shops. Then accommodation above those. And all in use and in beautiful nick. I can't help thinking that Chester must have been one of the pleasanter medieval towns to try and negotiate, seeing as you wouldn't necessarily have to wade through all the shit at street level to get around. This pic gives you a flavour of what the city is like:
That's a section of the town that's built within the area of the Roman fort, Deva. They're v. big on Romans in Chester ;-) There's a museum thingie there that's very hands on, and you can try on repro Roman armour. I did and man, it was *heavy* - but The Man took the photos and he had a fit of the shakes so they didn't turn out at all well :-( Still, my respect for legionaries went up a good few notches!
The walls are cool too, 'cos they're built upon. It's a very three dimensional city!
Pretty Georgian houses atop a medieval wall with Roman footings. I like that idea :-)
I could have stayed in Chester a lot longer and not been bored - in fact, we'l have to go again some time soon, I think - but the next day we had to head home. But I finally managed to persuade The Man (and it's only taken 30 years LOL) not to drive straight home like a bat out of hell but to take me to see Hadrian's Wall. And it was great! Probably not the best weather to see it in, although it was very atmospheric, and I could only persuade him to detour as far as Birdoswald and not Housesteads or Vindolanda, which I would have preferred but which really are in the ass end of nowhere - but still! Hadrian's Wall! At last!
And that was that. Last detour apart from the supermarket before we got home.
Congrats to anyone who's stayed the course this far *g*
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 10:14 am (UTC)Doom Bar - yes - a very fine tipple.
*Darts back up to look at nice piccies, and reminisce about, ooh, tons of stuff.*
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 03:59 pm (UTC)Only 40 minutes from me...not sure I could cope with not having to drive for hours and hours for a meet-up!!!!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 06:02 pm (UTC)*g*
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 06:02 pm (UTC)Chester for a get together might be grand - I'm thinking it would be an utter bastard to get to from here via public transport though. Worth looking into at any rate, some of the pubs there are sensational!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 01:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 06:07 pm (UTC)If you look at the people on the beach, you'll see they're well wrapped up. Most of them were walking their dogs *g*
However, beaches and cold weather are a Brit tradition. I remember many a Bank Holiday Monday on Brighton beach (on the South coast), shingle beach so hell on the feet and you had to wear plimmies (sandshoes? I have no idea of the Yank for these although I'm guessing their other name, 'rubbers', might give entirely the wrong impression LOL), shivering with the cold and whining mightily, with my old mum saying, 'We paid good money to get here. Stop whining! If you're cold, put your anorak on and get into the water for a paddle' LOL
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 01:53 pm (UTC)I like the look of Chester and have added it to my 'places to go if I ever get to the UK' list. (I'll have to stay about three years at this point. *g*) The Hadrian's Wall walk is actually creeping toward the top of the list these days and your picture looks like it was taken by the tourist bureau. Just lovely!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 06:12 pm (UTC)Chester's well worth adding to the list and Hadrian's Wall is utterly marvellous from what little I've seen. I'm guessing some of the ass-end-of- nowhere parts are even more marvellous! This pic was taken from the 'civilised' (ie Roman) side of the wall, looking out towards us lot *g*. Glad you liked it!
I hope Embra's somewhere on that list, btw? I'd *love* to show you around my city!
no subject
Date: 2007-05-26 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 02:27 pm (UTC)Shame about the pics of you in the armour. LOL. I recon it was all those pints that gave hime the shakey hands
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 06:15 pm (UTC)And you're probably right about the beer - he wasn't totally up to scratch that morning thanks to Directors' Bitter. Poor wee scone. He should have stuck with me on the Bombardier, it was well smooth *g*
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 08:32 pm (UTC)I see the move went well :-) I hope you have lots of happy times in your new place (and wish I was close enough to bring around a house-warming present. Something small, bijou, and frivolous). It sounds lovely.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 10:02 pm (UTC)Happy Birthday! Hopefully you're still celebrating.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-22 05:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-22 05:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-23 11:59 am (UTC)I love that crooked house. I couldn't sleep there. I'd be afraid I'd wake up in the basement or in a Poltergeist 4 movie. :-p
Mother Nature's Dildos. *snickers* I'm wondering what she serves up for lube.
Thanks for the pretties, sweetie. Glad you had a marvelous time. :) *sighs*
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Date: 2007-05-23 12:40 pm (UTC)Lube, you say? Not sure you'd need any. When you felt them, they were already pretty slick ;-) Damned odd feeling - they felt almost rubbery, they were so smooth: very unexpected way for stone to feel anyway.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-23 09:53 pm (UTC)